From who, where, and when, and what percent to give, this episode of Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station "Hey Wanna Go" Travel Show with travel advisor Cheryl Ogle deep dives into the world of tipping and gratuities.
Check out Cheryl's blog on tipping etiquette for travelers: https://heywannago.wordpress.com/2024/08/13/gratuities-tipping/
On Big Blend Radio every third Wednesday, Cheryl is a world traveler, accredited travel advisor, and owner of Hey Wanna Go that specializes in travel to Europe and the UK, as well as river and ocean cruises. More: https://heywannago.com/
Welcome to Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station Travel and Leisure Show. Hey everybody, welcome to Big Blend Radio's Vacation Station Travel Show where every third Wednesday we get to chat with Cheryl Ogle if there's our hey want to go travel Wednesday with her. She is a world traveler, a travel advisor, and owner of the travel company, hey want to go? I do. I do. She's going to tell us a little bit about hey when you're traveling, what about those gratuities? In fact, we get questions about this all the time and then we sometimes go, well I don't know about this. What do we do with the bell hop? Oh and then what about those cruises? It says everything, all gratuities are included. Really are they? Yeah, this is a good topic Cheryl. So welcome back. How are you? Thank you. I'm doing well. Nice to chat with you. You know the gratuity thing to me, it's like I just want to say plan for it because I think all the workers in hospitality work so hard that they work on holidays that you know we don't want to. We want to be on vacation with our friends and family. They often are at work doing some things that are kind of really hardcore especially housekeepers and hotels and inns and bed and breakfasts and dishwashers and there's some really nasty jobs in hospitality. And a lot of times they'll actually share tips and things like that but we've learned some things or two on our journey and you've got a great blog post and everyone the episode description, if you look in the description notes I've got a link to Cheryl's blog about opportunities where she really outlines it and also goes right to her website as well and you've got to go there. It is hey want to go.com and follow her on Facebook and Instagram too. She takes us everywhere she goes but can we start with hotels because that's something that I think we may forget even if you're staying like you know at one of those you know roadside motel things and you know you're caught in a rainstorm or something and say hey let's pull over and get what we can. Tip them. Right. Tip everybody right. Yes. Well it's you know I think one thing you need to think about is that if you can afford to travel you need to count on having some gratuities along the way. Don't think that just the basics of hotel flight you know rental car or whatever that's everything, every cost. hotel workers that have so much responsibility and they're working to give you to turn around a hotel room and give you a clean comfortable room you know it's maybe flipped every day and when you're calling and saying can you bring me extra towels because I really like extra towels and I want four pillows and you know I mean when mostly when you're asking for some extra things you're causing extra work on top of an already difficult workload. So be generous with that. There's nothing wrong with wanting extra pillows I like a lot of pillows but I'm going to make it worth their time you know if I'm if I'm creating extra work for them I feel like that is fair. There's a trade off. Well it's kind of weird because some restaurants actually have kind of gone like we're not doing tips. It's kind of a wonky thing now and when I you don't know who what he's doing what and where but I also want to say the flip side with hotels is and we'll get to restaurants but hotels like sometimes you get mad at the hotel like oh this needs to be updated I'm not leaving a tip. Hey it's not the housekeeper's fault I'm just saying if your bed is clean and those pillows are nice and fresh you know what I mean it's going to be don't don't nail the housekeeper over it. It's not her fault about what the hotel was exactly. Exactly. Exactly. That is not her job and his or her job and so don't don't punish them for that. You know I was recently on a stay a lot of hotels are getting away from daily housekeeping unless you specifically request and I was recently in a city I was there for six nights and we were offered housekeeping every day and most days we really just asked them to refresh the bathroom a little bit make sure they were extra toilet paper and wash cloths. I make my own bed every morning anyway but you know you still you want to still take care of them and they're getting their job. You made a point also about when you're somewhere for an extended time about you know whether you should do it daily you know or like how often you should do it and Nancy and I you know on our tour here you know we travel full time at one point we were under contract for this media work and stayed in a hotel for an extended time and we'd done it like once a year that way right and so the head of housekeeping was very sweet lady and everybody trusted her including the hotel years right like she whatever she says goes and so every you'd stay for like maybe three weeks to a month and we would go and give her here's the tips for everyone to share including her right mm-hmm well one year we went back and the staff just looked at us like yeah you're the people who don't tip and we're like what because we were giving a couple hundred bucks and wow and I'm going will you be or not tipping you she took the tips and got caught for some other fraudulent things and so I was like oh my gosh so we've just been giving this woman money and she's not really doing the work and they left because she just sat in the laundry room with her phone she had the nice pretty long fingernails and everything and everybody else is scrubbing toilets and so they hated her like by the I mean this last time we were like oh my gosh we felt horrible and of course made sure everybody got like now who gets you know because even the hotel here themselves were so busy that like I didn't even want to give it to them in case they forgot you know what I mean so we really got to a point of like every time we saw someone just tip them then like give them money you know because it was bad I mean that was that was fraudulent but it couldn't it can happen in any business anywhere so now like we've learned every time we're in a hotel just if you're there for a week and they're going to clean something you know or you see them just tip them that's kind of where we're at so what do you think about that in regards to you touched on that in your blog about how frequent if you're there for a while because sometimes I especially a cruise you could be on the same ship for a couple weeks right two to three weeks even right well and on a cruise is a very different experience because you will have if you're not changing cabins you will have the same cabin steward all week or all two weeks or whatever they don't rotate like in a hotel and I understand hotel will often rotate staff and everyone goes up a level or you change halls so that it just spreads it around but on a cruise ship yeah if you're on if you're on a week long cruise or a two week cruise you'll have the same person and if you want to do something regularly daily you may you know remember that you're already paying gratuities daily and so it is sufficient if you're not asking for special things in your if you've been time maintenance and you say I you know most creatures now they come in once a day but if you're saying I really want fresh I want ice in my cabin twice a day and I use it my enjoy it that's fine but make it worth their time and give them something you know maybe offer them five dollars a day whether you do it at the end or or what they are they're low paid they're working almost around the clock I mean they're they're just working non-stop so that you have a great week and they have in recent years they have given cabin stewards more cabins to clean is switched to once a day but now they're they're cleaning twice many cabins so you know just don't think well they're only coming in once a day so they have half a day open no they don't and even when you don't see them in the hallway cleaning they're behind the scenes they are you know they are helping with laundry services they're folding cow animals to be used later and they're inventory supplies and things so they're not in their room watching Netflix waiting till they can scrub your toilet again no gosh no I mean they really it's such a thankless job it is such hard work Nancy and I've done it and I've done it a lot and I'm like I like even working in a restaurant you know everybody has to get each other's back from you know management down and down to up you know because if someone sick or something goes wrong it's whoever's first really a call of duty right they give if there's a break you're you're like everyone's eating in a restaurant you're gonna go in the back and start rolling you know the silverware into you know serve serviettes you went to England see I'm in serviettes napkins everybody you know you're gonna roll the cutlery you know and all of that kind of stuff so that kind of work is and its attention to detail and a couple we know really you know sweet couple recently went on a cruise and they happy hour like the cruise it said all gratuities are included so they oh that's great I don't have to think about it and they found out later that people were tipping and they had like the head waiter and the bartender lady or whatever knew their drinks you know when they start to remember what you like and don't like know who you are what you're up to took extra special care of them and got real friendly and they didn't tip them and they came home with this remorse because it was too late they found out from the other you know friends that they'd made on the cruise because it was one of a small river cruise you know as they were all off the ship and everything was over they're like oh yeah we made sure we took tip that and they're like they were horrified because they have no problem tipping right at all but they died you weren't supposed to and if you did then it would they didn't know what to do and they were horrified and it was the same with the excursions that's where the whole conversation come up with someone said oh no we all tipped the excursions and all of that because then they thought all of that was they they were so upset when they came home we're really upset because they're such sweet people they can obviously afford to do it and I was like I don't know what to say you know because sometimes even us as media people you know we're invited to go to all these places and do things and then you're like okay who's doing what and you have to as media you need to get that is the CVB paying the gratuities or the writers doing the gratu you know what I mean that needs to be upfront just for anybody in the industry even as you go around and do things right don't you have to have that who's doing what be upfront find out you know because at the end of the day to not you know that the people do the walking tours and all that they they're not making that much money even better breakfast half of its the owners doing the the rooms depending on the size of the B&B and they're working their tails off give them the gratuity hey right I do I do I don't care where we are every hotel room I always leave a couple bucks you know depending on how long we stay you know two to ten bucks depends on how many days you're there you know exactly yeah so let's go back to the cruise thing about the this couple when they say it's all taking care of that I mean that is kind of that's that's like when you go to a restaurant they say if you have a party over ten your bills can include the gratuity do you still leave a tip so where where where is the fine print not being clear on this well okay so I think you know I mean you just mentioned like when you have when you have a large party and you go to a restaurant they're automatically including an 18% tip is what I often see if I'm out with my family of six or more and if service is mediocre or bad I mean I mean if you use your judgment I tip more than 18% where I when it's just me going out and use your judgment but know that something is already built in because they've worked hard especially on large parties and so they're covered in case you're the kind that doesn't tip but I've been out before with people who tip poorly and it's embarrassing and I try to make up a little bit you know but you can't yeah I mean you can cover the whole party that you're with and I have one woman let's say I was it is a group of about 15 people she said oh everyone else always tips so so I'm not going to worry about it but I thought you do you part I mean I was horrified that she really felt like that was okay and she said most people will over tip you know don't they'll get it it's fine I you know I can't afford it but well then you can't afford to come out exactly you know it's just part of it but yeah for larger parties they're going to automatically I think 18% seems to be a standard that is added but if they have re-filled you know your kids little Tommy tippy cups you know with lemonade a hundred times and your your tea and brought you the martini you like and everything anymore they're on the floor on the floor exactly yeah they're coming out there having to come up carrots and chips and french fries you know bump that up to 25% you know you've made a mess in there with with your family reunion or whatever and and it's great you're going out but generous someone's got to clean up after you what kind of mess are you leaving well yeah you know it's funny because you know that tip thing too it's like to me I always thought it was minimum 20 it goes 20 to 25 you know or if someone's really done something extraordinary you do more than that right and I went into a sandwich shop the other day a brand name as we all know who it is just on the road and the the girl did a very quick one sandwich you know that Nancy and I was splitting it was I think if she spent even two minutes with us it was fine and the person before us was like changing their mind ten times their kid was changing their mind ten times I was like okay I'm actually not gonna wait this long you know I don't know if he tipped her and he was just kind of raining her and so you're paying and you're like well you're not being served on but she didn't make you a sandwich and she is getting paid for making the sandwich so they give you like options of how much to tip them and so and it happens to me at a pizza place you had gift cards and you you aren't seeing people make the food you're not being served and it was like it's takeout right so like what do you do on those levels because when we travel we do take out sometimes and go back to a hotel room so I always kind of give like the 10 15 percent more than the 2025 when someone's catering to your every need in the restaurant do you know what I mean so in my being at this point you can tell me being stingy it's fine no I I'm the same way if I'm gonna sit down restaurant they have taken my order brought me food brought me a check sit down experience and 25 percent or more and a friend of mine starts at ten dollars no matter what size the order you know I mean assuming that's at least 20 percent you know that's just her starting so she's if she's alone you know on a twenty dollar meal she's tipping 50 percent you know she's a very generous tipper but yeah if you're having that sit down experience 20/25 percent should be you know really kind of your standard but when I'm like you if I'm ordering at a counter and I don't do that very often but I was in the airport last week and I bought a thing of mints and there was a person never moved I picked them up put them on the counter and they asked for a tip on the screen no no not not going to tip that you've done nothing there you know literally nothing but if you're I understand if you're in there making a sandwich then yeah I think ten percent or so that they that type of worker as I understand it they're making minimum wage or more but food servers where in many states they're still making you know two to five dollars or six dollars an hour they're not making minimum wage and that was when tips were brought in to make up for that to bring that up but it's you know it's kind of out of control where when I'm trying to buy some airport altoids I'm being asked to tip the person who rang me up but didn't offer any service yeah I don't understand yeah now what about excursions though like if your cruise line said gratuities are included and you go on an excursion you know you'd be standard to offer your tour guide something I think so and normally they pass a bucket around well in the states they do but depends on the culture and that's the thing about world travel some people are quiet about it right and some it and some people aren't so quiet depending on where you are you know it's like here bang the bucket put it in there you know yeah and you don't need to make a big show of it you know you don't want to come forth and go here I put in ten dollars you know be you know I mean that the bible talks about don't be like that you know just just have it in your palm and usually they'll be waiting at the at the coach or you know if when you get off the off the tour bus and you can just shake their hand and it goes right in their hand not a big deal they're not opening it go and ooh that is only one dollar that was five you know it be you know do what you can but be friendly thank them most of the time something that that's worth it just as much as a tip is to go give them a review and they'll most of them are not shy about asking saying please go on TripAdvisor or Google reviews and you know tell us what we did right if we did something wrong you know let's have a conversation because they they want that positive feedback so you can do that you can thank them don't they may hand you a card say this is my trip advisor link you know please please go leave me a review because that helps down the line for sure so is it different when because I know you do a lot of travel in Europe versus the states in tipping you know like in general or or not Europe and and the UK they're very different um America and I and I hear European say I feel like Americans are out of control but they're tipping they see it too but the really there with food service the idea is to round up and maybe 10 percent would be very generous oh wow if you go if you're in a pub in the UK you will probably go order at a bar you'll find your table you go order at a bar if you're your meal and your drink come to you know say seven seventeen pounds or something you know you may want to pay him 20 which would be very generous and they'll bring your food to you but if you're if you're sitting down they take your order about about 10 percent would be standard it is not like here and it's it takes a while to get rid of that mentality of I kind of tip 25 percent you know they're expecting it they're not they're paid a living wage so they're not relying on tips like American servers are so it I wonder I wonder about this now how we are like a lot of restaurants have just gotten rid of the tipping completely your your prices go up a little bit because minimum wages you know especially if you're in California as you know Cheryl California is really expensive and minimum wages going up and some restaurants can't keep up with it but then I go it's such a weird catch 22 thing you know don't you want your servers and your staff to actually be employed and be able to live you know do you don't want people that are you know because drama comes from people not getting paid you know I mean if they're not happy coming to work and I think some restaurants had success and some didn't but I think from what I've heard and read and done you know we do a lot of shows on minimum wage and stuff and the pros and cons of it but I think at the end of the day if your employees are being paid what they deserve you know and obviously being good employees right they're going to do a better job and customers are going to have a better experience like I've always heard that you want your company to have better reviews and happier customers and repeat customers treat your staff well that's kind of what I've always heard that's a kind of a good business rule so I don't know it's kind of it's interesting huh of how the tips work and tips are weird too we knew a restaurant owner and we didn't really quite like him and he's not in business anymore check that out he kept all the tips until the end of the year and divided them up for as a Christmas bonus that's wrong yeah I told you Nancy and I didn't like him very much and he lost his business over and he couldn't keep staff in a small mountain town you don't do that in a small town when you have very few employees and then when people walk out they walk out from their tips they did their work for that tip it may have helped pay their rent you know right so I kind of feel like we should almost as travelers sometimes do a little bit of investigation like sometimes I ask a server you know do you want me to give you cash versus the credit card even sometimes as a tip what do you think about that too because sometimes yeah yeah yeah exactly I think cash is cash is king as I say I rarely think about having cash on hand I mean if someone never robs me they're gonna be so sad I'm just not good at cash I don't think about it but I when I travel I do try to have some some bills handy for that I mean of course I mean when I'm traveling I do but yeah if you have cash then they're not it's not having to go through a credit card system or being taxed on any you do you with your daughter I'm not offering taxes but and I think that most people do prefer cash I know when one of my daughters was a server and she loved cash there's something cool about yeah we're out at the end so you've got running to the bathroom to count your cash you know it's like how much did I make you know I was really cool to this you know I'm remember when I was very very young working in a restaurant and I was so into it and I tripped with a plate of food and it had a fish on it like a whole fish fillet and the fish fillet landed on the customer's lap literally went off the table onto the lap and I'm like I am so done but I handled it immediately I apologize I went got things clean up and everything the restaurant backed me up good people even though the chef was mean he would I mean it's part of why I probably even tripped he was like you go in there and he just starts yelling at you and I said yeah I was what oh early teens and that was like what are you doing yelling at me I don't know what to do it was like a light color no but but but you learn you learn to deal with people's personalities and I remember not liking this you know but then going out I was like ooh I'm gonna hang out with the customers they're fun and I remember that happening and they still tipped me and that is about good customer service about taking care of it and the restaurant the front of the house took care of it the chef remade the fish and of course yelled at me later but it was about you take care of your customer and your customer will take care of you and that they walked out like okay stuff happens you know I was also very lucky to have the right customer to throw fish off but things happen and it's how we handle it too I think as travelers mistakes happen and they're human and give them some grace because that is a hard job and goodness knows I want some grace extended to me on my worst days oh my gosh absolutely I mean things happen and so just be nice I know when I'm when I'm in a restaurant and a sit down restaurant I you know I unsweet iced tea with lemon is my go-to and if you keep my iced tea feel we're going to be best friends and I'm going to make it up to you I know you're gonna run back and forth a lot but keep my tea filled and offer me to go cup at the end and I'm going to be just happy as can be and will tip you very very well for making such a pleasant experience and so in the other yeah you know go ahead go ahead now go ahead I was going to say that you know the thing about restaurants too is like the restaurant once you have a really amazing time but if you're going to sit there you better be ordering dessert ordering something so the restaurant can afford to keep you there because they move the tops out the table tops you know it's like you that's the truth they're moving you in moving you out and that is about being sustainable it's not it's it's called running a business it's nothing against you or anyone as a customer but they have you know they have to as many people as they can feed that night with the food the better for them but every restaurant has a different thing too some people go okay you're gonna pay a high ticket you can spend as long as you want everyone's a little different on it but just in general right but it's the same for the waiters and waitress to you know the all you can eat buffet thing please the buffet people still need to get paid you know I think a little bit here and there they still come like there's a guy that comes with the the box where starts taking all your dirty plates and they deserve something don't ignore the people in the buffet you know you may not have some people may bring you soda or whatever but um the longer you're there it's kind of a thankless job in a buffet you know when I think about the workers in a buffet restaurant it's thankless thank them right because you're you required you know I mean I don't really go to all you know all you can eat buffet but um but you know I know there's a salad especially if there's cake you know I'm not doing cake right now either but but but I mean really you have to have a fresh plate as you should to go back for every serving and so that that generates a lot of dishes if you're going back for just thinking I just want a little bit more potato salad or whatever so everything so I mean just think about the trickle-down effect it really it does take take a village to keep these places running and washing the dishes and keeping them going keeping them cleared and clean and everything but um what they want to circle back to is we talked about tour guides um you know there's a big trend with free walking tours when you're traveling and they're they're fantastic and you a lot of companies offer them and you go and you you do register to go on them but there's no charge but um a friend and I were in Croatia and we we registered and went on one and we were the only two who showed up and so we were able to really pick this gal's brain and and I talked to her you know as a travel advisor um so I want to know how this works and so she was very very kind and open about it and she said that as someone who operates these free walking tours they depend on on gratuities at the end because they're not paid by their parent company so if it's you know I'm not going to name a company but if you know they then he operate under that they have to then pay the company who they're operating under for each person who registered so if you have 10 people register and eight or no shows and it's just myself and my friend who showed up he has to pay she's paying like three euros per person to the company because they think she had 10 people on her tour and she well you know only two showed she doesn't have any proof of that and so often that's why some of these walking free walking tours say hey let's get a group picture and I see them do this in front of the Tower of London every time I'm there and the free walking tour and that's that's what they're doing to send back to the company to say hey I had 14 people on my tour and I'm paying you you know three dollars a person and then so it may end up like in that case in Croatia she she lost money on the eight people who didn't come because she had to still pay for their heads even though they were no they thought oh it's a free tour we're just not going to show it's no big deal it's a big deal because most of these are having to pay something for who registered so if you take the time to register and you're going to be a no show go back into the steps and cancel it doesn't you know it doesn't take but a second but cancel that so that they're not having to pay for you being a no show and then when you go the idea is pays what it was for so my friend and I ended up with a private tour for two and a half or three hours with this gal and and it was fantastic because we could ask questions and you know she she showed us what what we wanted to see took us to this this private bar on the cliffs in in Croatia and things like that so we tipped her quite well and I would highly recommend doing something like that it was it was a great experience but it was unfortunate for her that these other people were no shows and didn't cancel because she said wow that cost her money so it's something to be mindful you don't know you just think a little free walking tour I'll just join in and then maybe I'll listen to Simon then I'll leave early well if you leave early and you're not tipping anything you know don't be that pretty nice yeah yeah there's something to be said for that and I think that's with you know not canceling a reservation at a restaurant you know right that's rude too if you're going to cancel reservation cancel it that's your your people are holding that and somebody could be standing at the door hoping you know what I mean it's um but just people right you know because I think right now we're watching in this country you know restaurants that made it through COVID are closing I mean just and I can tell you we've been to two cities in the last month each city had lost four restaurants within a week oh wow yeah so we've got to think you know tourism is you know this year's kind of it's definitely working and people are going overseas but it's fluctuating in weird ways in our country especially for the small businesses so we're seeing that a lot across the country and I don't know if it's a political year or what but every action we do as a traveler has an effect to the other side and you know and we've got to think you know as a travel community I believe you know when we go to someone else's country we're in their house practically right and whatever we do affects them and whatever they do affects us so we've got to be civil and good and have some respect and it's the same in traveling in our own country you know have some respect in how you handle things you mentioned about reviews being a golden thing for for folks I would like to do a show on that because okay people's reviews I don't know who they think they are sometimes it's like you know I was kind of raised that if you don't have something nice to say don't say it like in the height of things you know you can always have criticism you know constructive criticism and an opinion and you could be upset with something but how do you handle it you know and right I would love to do something on that because we've got to think about what our small businesses across the country and around the world go through and no one's perfect every single day we're supposed to be but we're not and like you said you use the word grace and I think that's a really good word how are you going to handle just if you have a crease or oh my gosh you saw a hair on your bed well you know what it could come from the washing machine you know it could come from anything it does not mean your bed was not cleaned doesn't even that hair could have been washed and didn't get it into the lint and you know it's clean hair you never you know no one's perfect and if you travel you're gonna have to take in a little bit of dirt if your house is a hundred percent spotless perfect well then I hate to tell you the rest of the world out yeah yeah so I would like to just say can we have some grace and there are times where the other side is you know the host or the you know the restaurant or whatever the hotel may not be doing their part that happens but this is the difference between you know things that are just simply dirty and they haven't been taken care of and a hair that got left on your comforter in a hotel you know come on I'm 59 I lose hair like crazy you know I don't want someone walking through my house I wasn't hearing on the guest bed maybe because I just changed the sheet this morning you know but can you not just shake it up and sit in the trash yeah yeah but that's but that's the thing I'm talking about is is yeah you know that grace of um you can go and say hey I've got this problem there's a few times where I've had some serious issues in hotels like being locked in the bathroom and not being able to get out because they paint and then when I went to tell them about it they didn't care to even do anything about it you know and you know anyway we won't go there but it's rare that I will ever do anything negative on social media unless the company has actually basically pushed me to that's the only form of communication well then right let's go you know well and there's you know I think there is a time to be certainly be real and be honest and if I'm booked a trip for you and we had some pick ups let's communicate don't come home and not tell me that hey my hotel wasn't ready until four o'clock you said it'd be ready you know or something communicate don't yeah blast me on on a review and say the hotel she picked was bad or whatever I don't pick that you know I mean we all do the best we can and you approved it and so if it didn't work out you're not buying it I'm sorry you know let let's try to do better next time but I actually got a one-star review on google a few months ago what are you kidding and yeah no do I have to go take them out no it's a man who called I was in Europe he called and left a message he wanted a flight from Lubbock Texas to Little Rock Arkansas I don't book much domestic travel and he wanted a flight in a rental car I don't you know I wouldn't book a package like that anyway it's not a complete package and so I was in Europe limited internet and I sent a text a couple of hours later and I said I'm sorry I can't help you I always refer to another company in town who does a great job refer him there so he blasted me blasted that company on my on my one-star review for service that he never used from me so anyway about how how terrible it was that I could well that's that's to a show on this I'm gonna let's I'm gonna do a panel on this because what I see is people become they're playing god it's like I want you out of business just because I've got annoyed this morning I got out of bed the wrong way I'm gonna be rude you know and I see this everywhere and and there's the communication is horrible it's horrific and some companies do have to step up there are times but the employees I don't know man it's it's wonky and as we have AI stepping in the middle even in tourism and smart check in check you know faceless check ins and all of that things are gonna get weird and so I feel like yeah I think you even sparked another show so yeah let's do that we'll do that we'll do that because I think as travelers we need to get a grip and and I think also business owners too small business owners sometimes have to also step up a bit too you know it's not all everyone but yeah let's do a show on that perfect but I much prefer having a client come to me and say hey we we had a problem with this you know okay let's let's fix it what could we have done differently exactly just just communicate and that's not very often and I you know I really thought about how to respond to this guy because Google would not remove the review and okay you know if he'd use my services and I'm a one-star that's fine but you you called me one time and I was in yeah so well that's what I said I even responded but that trip advisor you have to be verified that you booked through them and stuff like that right so it's a little different Google yeah just but I responded to him and just said you know you're right you did call me and I did refer you to the other company because I can't help with that package you know but I said my my five-star reviews for people who have actually used my services speak for themselves and send them on his way yeah yeah I'm not I'm not gonna get in the little fighting match with him he's upset no never use my services again which is thankful because I would not look for him but exactly well and we're in that age you know we really is travelers want an authentic experience which means you want to be a match you know our friend Glen bros who has a short company in in England he's like oh no I want to talk to the people before they come over they have he has WhatsApp chats and zoom chats and because he goes I'm taking him around in the car I'm taking him it's in person and they could just take one look at me and it's just not a match doesn't mean anything it just you know maybe you look like you know uncle Joe and uncle Joe's dirty uncle Joe and you know maybe Glenn kind of has a resemblance and therefore they won't then Glenn is not a dirty uncle Joe by the way but um for the record everyone he's the sweetest man but he's lovely yeah he is he is so awesome I love I love Glenn um a great sense of humor too because he puts up with Nancy and I so it's got to have a good sense of humor you do that too so you got a good sense of humor but but the reality is you know you it's got to be a match and like you're saying okay well what you want is not what I serve right it's like going into an ice cream shopping and saying I want cake well you may have one bit of cake thing that goes with a specific ice cream thing say I always bring it back to cake and that's going to work and that's what we do but I'm not going to give you you know if the cake is what you want then this may not be the cake you know um you don't get mad at me because I'm an ice cream shop and you want a cake you can't do that exactly so we're not a match that's the point so it's about finding the match and and so that communication like you say is everything and I think that's when we come to gratuities did the person go out of their way to make you feel fun did you have you know they talk about bartenders are like the shrinks of the world I mean if you want a therapist go to a bar and sit at the bartenders side and if the bartender doesn't play therapist people don't tip them it's and that's weird man because why are you gonna and the bartender at I feel bad for bartenders and half of them don't drink they just you know they're drinking wheat grass before they go to work and they're looking at you going you know lady break up with them already go home you know so it's um we've got to kind of think of what we're projecting out there as travelers that's my right you know you want to have a good time have a good time if your server is not there then let you have a good time and sucks I mean we've we've had I remember once Nancy and I were in Vegas with a friend of ours and we had a doll that would repeat this doll it was a garden gnome you squeezed the garden gnomes belly and he would record what you said and it would come out in garden gnome voice right which was funny and that was funny um and our friend with us elkomador from mexico um he was like my granddad and he would we would we'd travel a lot and he grabbed that and like we'd check in the hotels and he'd go get his room and then he would make the gnome speak and you know people it was just making people laugh it was silly and fun you know you're on vacation I remember we went into uh it was Loughlin it wasn't even Vegas it was Loughlin and there was no one in this bar restaurant it was Nancy him and I having a nightcap to go to our rooms and he brought out the thing and the bartender was like just giving us the eye and we didn't go overboard now I understand if someone made the room uncomfortable or started playing with this doll over the garden gnome doll over and over again or got rude or whatever we didn't do that it was just silly and he's like you know we're closing in an hour and we were just like well we're just here for a nightcap he was so rude it was just like you shouldn't be in your job you're supposed to be here for fun and you know you're supposed to be upgrading us to have two nightcaps before good a bed right that's your job and you make more tip money and he was rude and the Commodore looks and he's like well you're not fun I think we're gonna just not do this and he goes yeah and take your little doll with you too and the Commodore is like uh oh I'm like let me you know this man is served you don't want to mess with the Commodore he's got to name the Commodore for a reason um no it was really bad you know but you know what we did we just moved on to a different restaurant and had a good evening and that was that we didn't sit and like blast the world obviously that guy you who knows what happened with that guy who knows if his wife just left him or something you never know you know you never know she had a garden gnome that drove him nuts who knows but I didn't care if I buy a garden gnome I know some people have you know phobias of garden gnomes but that garden gnome was so cool I wish we still had it it's so fun you just push it it would say thing anyway anyway so that's the end of our gratitude conversation here of gratitude and gratuities right um yeah have gratitude that would be the word right gratuities come from grateful gratitude um exactly be grateful and show that gratefulness yep absolutely well thank you as always Cheryl it's been fun and we did talk cake and you know we always talk longer than normal because I brought out a garden gnome all right everyone keep up with Cheryl go to her website hey want to go dot com and her link for her blog is in the episode notes as well or just go to her website hey want to go dot com you can find her there also on facebook hey want to go travel she's also on instagram so keep up with her there so thanks so much Cheryl thanks for your time good to chat with you you too thank you for listening to big blend radios vacation station travel and leisure show brought to you by big blend magazines keep up with us at big blend radio dot com or blend radio and tv dot com happy travels
